Newcastle 26 Gloucester 25: Tindall is the fall guy again

It still seems to be tough going for Mike Tindall as he tries to put the World Cup debacle behind him and get back to business with Gloucester.

The former England captain made a dreadful mistake to present bottom club Newcastle with an early try that proved crucial.

Running man: Mike Tindall takes on Sukja Hufanga at Kingston Park

Olly Morgan's breakthrough gave Bryan Redpath's side, who have not won at Kingston Park since 2007, a seven-point lead after two minutes.

But Tindall's handling error gave the ball away and Newcastle scrum-half Jordi Pasqualin went over against his old club.

Gloucester have now won only once in their last seven matches and made too many handling errors on a windy night.

They also gave away too many penalties, with Jimmy Gopperth taking advantage by kicking four of them - as well as converting a James Fitzpatrick try when the visitors were down to 14 men when Alasdair Strokosch tripped Newcastle fly-half Gopperth.

Done it: Ashley Wells celebrates Newcastle's dramatic victory

Gloucester head coach Redpath picked out the first-half sin-binning as the game's decisive moment. 'The trip was the turning point,' he said. 'We weren't under any real pressure but we went from 20-10 to 20-17. Our set-piece was poor, our basic skills were poor and so was our discipline.'

Redpath's opposite number Alan Tait said: 'Jimmy is a target and needs to be protected.'

The Falcons were relieved when Freddie Burns, who had kicked well until then, failed to land a conversion 10 minutes from the end after Scott Lawson went over. Gopperth then missed a penalty, but more Gloucester handling errors meant they missed their chance to regain the lead.